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Facts  Versus  Fables 

About  the 

Present  Cost  of  Good  Clothing 


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Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2007  with  funding  from- 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/factsversusfableOOhousrich 


Facts  Versus  Fables 

About  the 
Present  Cost  of  Good  Clothing 


Published  1920  by 

The  HOUSE  of  KUPPENHEIMER 


<:,<^^° 


^^-6^^ 


A II  statistics  presented 
by  Charts  effective  as 
compiled  May,  IQ20. 


Copyrighted  19S0  by 
The  Home  of  Kupjjenheimer 


AV' 


THE  PROBLEM 


ONLY  five  dollars'  worth  of  wool  in  a  suit  of 
clothes !  Only  five  dollars*  worth  in  a  suit 
that  sells  for  sixty  dollars.  Who  gets  the 
rake-off  ?  Where  is  the  leak  ?  Says  the  far- 
mer, **I  sell  you  my  wool  for  five  and  have 
to  pay  you  back  that  five,  and  fifty-five  more 
before  I  get  my  suit.**  Says  the  man  in  the 
street,  **I  don't  know  who  gets  it,  whether  the 
farmer  or  the  clothier;  I  only  know  that 
clothes  are  too  high.** 

Where  is  the  Leak? 

Who  got  that  fifty- five?  Who  profiteered? 
**I  didn*t,**  says  the  retailer.  *4  didn't,**  says 
the  cloth  manufacturer.  **We  didn*t,  **  say 
the  cutters  and  the  tailors  and  the  buttonhole 
makers  and  the  thousands  of  other  shop  work- 
ers. Well,  then  it  must  be  the  manufacturer 
who  killed  Cock  Robin  and  pocketed  the  fifty- 
five.  But,  don*t  be  too  hasty.  More  necks 
are  broken  by  jumping  at  conclusions  than  by 
hanging  or  falling  down  elevator  shafts.  Let*s 
look  for  the  facts  and  save  on  necks. 

Wool  Plus  Genius 

First  off,  we*ll  grant  that  only  five  dollars' 
worth  of  wool  goes  into  an  average  suit,  though 


42 li 06 


perhaps  two  dollars  more  is  nearer  the  exact 
truth.  Never  mind,  face  the  facts  at  their 
worst.  What  then?  Well  this.  When  you 
say  wool,  do  you  say  all  that  goes  into  a  suit? 
No,  perhaps  not,  you  answer,  a  little  evasively. 
What  else  then?  Oh,  silk  linings  and  a  few 
buttons.  Is  that  all?  By  no  means.  A  dozen 
other  things  are  needed  to  build  into  the 
clothes  that  a  modern  man  would  be  willing 
to  wear  in  the  sight  of  his  friends.  But  there's 
another  thing  more  important  still  which 
isn't  a  thing  at  all,  but  without  which  you'd 
get  no  clothes  for  love  or  money.  And  that's 
labor.  An  amazing  amount  of  human  labor 
intervenes  between  the  sheep's  back  and 
yours.  Thousands  of  fingers  handle  that 
precious  wool  before  it  transforms  you  from  a 
"forked  radish"  into  a  well  dressed  gentle- 
man. More  than  that,  those  things  and  this 
labor  have  to  be  fashioned  and  directed  and 
assembled.  The  power  to  imagine  and  design 
and  assemble  and  direct  is  creative  genius  and 
genius  costs  money. 

Fables 

Already  we  have  gone  far  enough  to  see 
that  good  clothes  do  not  grow  on  bushes. 
Some  people  talk  as  if  they  did.  Some  of  our 
ancestors  once  upon  a  time  had  a  quaint  sup- 
erstition that  in  a  far-off  country  lambs  grew 
on  trees.  Here  is  a  picture  which  an  old 
chronicler  used  to  prove  it. 

6 


If  it  were  only  true!  Here  is  the  moral  to 
this  fable:  If  the  farmer  could  grow  wool 
that  easily  and  the  clothier  could  pick  finished 
garments  from  his  berry  patch,  the  two 
together  would  deal  a  body  blow  to  our  great 
common  enemy — the  High  Cost  of  Living. 

But  we  live  in  an  age  of  Fact,  and  not 
Fable.  Mere  wishing  will  neither  grow  wool 
nor  make  clothing.  Let  us  get  back  there- 
fore from  the  Middle  Ages  and  down  to  sober 
Nineteen  Twenty  Facts! 

Fact  Number  One 

Sheep^s  wool  is  clothing  for  sheep  but  not  for 
men.  If  you  don't  believe  it,  try  walking 
down  the  main  street  of  your  town  with  a 
sheep  skin  draped  over  you  like  the  legendary 
shepherd . 


'^ 


UHeSficpHordofOld 

The  morals  police  and  the  insanity  squad 
have  a  benighted  perhaps  but  a  very  active 
prejudice  against  legendary  shepherds  and 
their  ways.  Frankly,  your  choice  is  forcibly 
limited,  let  us  say,  to  a  good  three-piece  suit  or 

8 


G)pyright  I92Q.  The  House  of  Kuppenheimer 

Ufiej^rt  of  Vh^ay 

an  overcoat,  any  one  of  the  ingenious  creations 
of  the  Clothes  Artist.  Wear  one  of  these  and 
the  authorities  credit  you  with  good  sense  and 
good  taste  and  perhaps  other  virtues  as  well. 

9 


Fact  Number  Two 

Wool  cannot  by  magic  be  presto!  changed 
into  good  clothes,  Ali  Baba  had  his  "Open 
sesame."  And  in  old  Grimm  we  used  to 
read  the  charming  fairy  tale  about  the  magic 
table  to  which  you  had  only  to  say,  ''Table 
be  spread/'  and  behold,  a  banquet.  But 
those  fairy  tales  were  either  the  day  dreams 
of  youth  or  the  rosy  fancies  by  which  hungry 
or  lazy  people  satisfied  their  longings.  At 
any  rate,  the  only  magic  we  can  depend  on  in 
these  days  is  the  magic  of  hard  work  plus 
directive  genius. 

Fact  Number  Three 

Good  wool  is  scarce,  and  all  wools  are 
expensive.  Moreover,  they  go  through  expen- 
sive processes  before  they  become  w^oolen 
cloth  or  clothing.  The  general  opinion  pre- 
vails that  wool  supplies  are  large  both  in 
America  and  abroad.  This  is  only  true  in 
part,  however.  For  while  there  is  an  abund- 
ance of  low  grade  wools  and  grades  that  are 
not  generally  wanted,  higher  grades  of  wool 
are  very  scarce,  partly  at  least  because  the 
rising  taste  of  the  public  expresses  itself  more 
and  more  in  the  demand  for  the  finer  grades 
of  clothing.  The  American  public  tends  to 
become  better  dressed. 

There  is  no  such  thing  as  cheap  wool  now- 
adays. A  comparison  of  wool  prices  for 
1915  and  1920  (as  shown  by  Chart  I)  makes 

10 


$  5.00  - 


4.00- 


3.00- 


COMPARISON  OF  WOOL  PRICES 
1915  AND  1920 


The  white  bars  represent  money  prices  in 

1915;  the  shaded  bars  1920.  Percentage 

increases  appear  at  the  end  of  shaded  bars. 


Fine  Australian 
1/2  Territory 
3/8  So.  American 
1/4  So.  American 
Fine  Australian 
Worsted  Yarn 


1915 


.60 
.70 
.40 
.30 

1.16 


1920 

Tio" 

1.75 
1.35 
0.00 

5.00 


331% 


Fine  Aus~   1/2  Terr-     3/8  So.       1/4  So.     Fme  Austral, 
tralian  itory        American     American  Worsted  Yarn 


11 


plain  the  high  rise  in  the  cost  of  certain  staple 
grades  of  wool. 

Fine  Australian  jumped  from  sixty  cents  to 
two  dollars  a  pound — an  increase  of  233%; 
}/2  Territory  rose  from  seventy  cents  to  a 
dollar  seventy-five — an  increase  of  150%. 
Other  grades  rose  from  100%  to  138%,  while 
fine  Australian  worsted  yarn  soared  from  a 
dollar  sixteen  fo  five  dollars  a  pound- — a  leap 
of  331%.  This  increase,  by  the  way,  as  will 
be  seen  later,  far  outstrips  increases  in  the 
cost  of  high  grade  clothing  or  of  farm  products. 
Moreover,  it  overtops  by  100%  the  increase 
in  wages  to  the  clothing  workers. 

High  Cost  of  Converting 

But  disregarding  the  fact  of  the  huge 
increase  in  the  cost  of  wool  itself,  attention 
should  be  focused  on  the  cost  of  preparing 
and  manufacturing  this  raw  wool  into  staple 
cloth.  It  is  not  generally  known,  even  to  the 
clothing  trade,  and  has  not  been  sufficiently 
explained  apparently  to  the  public,  that  the 
raw  wool  must  pass  through  eight  or  ten 
different  processes  before  it  is  converted  into 
clothing.  There  is  the  cost  of  transportation, 
of  storage,  of  factory  equipment  for  convert- 
ing raw  materials,  of  labor,  of  designing,  sell- 
ing, taxes,  insurance,  and  other  items  to  be 
reckoned  with;  and  these  costs,  like  other 
aspects  of  modern  business,  have  been 
mounting  rapidly. 

12 


CHART   II. 


COMPARISON  OF  MILL  COSTS  OF  A  YARD 
OF  12  OUNCE  SERGE  IN  1915  AND  1920 


$6.00 


5.00 


4.00 


3.00 


2.00 


1.00 
.80 
.60 
.40 
.20 


The  white  bars  represent  1915, 
the  shaded  bars  1920  costs 


Materials 

Labor 

Fuel 

Soap 

Dyes 

Supplies 

Total 


1915       1920 


1.01 
.23 
.02 
.01 
.04 
.04 


$1.35 


4.35 
.50 
.05 
.03 
.12 
.08 

$5.13 


An  increase  of  280% 


Materials 


Labor 


Fuel,  Soap, 
Dyes  Supplies 


Total 


13 


COMPARISON  OF  MILL  COSTS  OF  A  YARD 
OF  \\V2  OUNCE  WORSTED  IN  1915  AND  1920 


$6.00 


5.00 


4.00 


3.00 


2.00 


1.00 
.28 
.60 
.40 
.20 


The  white  bars  represent  1915, 
shaded  bars  1920  costs 


Materials 

Labor 

Fuel 

Soap 

Supplies 

Total 


1915       1920 


1.02 
.28 
.02 
.01 

.04 


$1.37 


4.74 
.625 
.05 
.03 

.08 
$5,525 


An  Increase  of  3037o 


' nTTTTT] 


Materials 


Labor 


Fuel,  Soap, 
Supplies 


Total 


14 


An  examination  of  Charts  II  and  III  will 
yield  an  interesting  insight  into  just  one 
phase  of  this  converting  process  and  will 
prove  that  every  item,  whether  labor,  fuel, 
soaps,  dyes  or  other  supplies,  has  doubled  or 
even  trebled  in  cost  from  1915  to  1920.  For 
example:  it  costs  280%  more  in  1920  to  pro- 
duce a  yard  of  12-ounce  serge,  and  303% 
more  to  produce  a  yard  of  11  J^-ounce  worsted. 
These  are  not  fairy  tales,  but  facts  borne  out 
by  an  elaborate  analysis  of  mill  costs. 

Fact  Number  Four 
The  Romance  of  Manufacture 

There  is  nothing  unique  in  the  fact  that 
finished  clothing  represents  a  big  increase  in 
cost  over  the  price  of  raw  wool.  If  wool 
could  by  magic  be  turned  into  clothing  with- 
out the  intervention  of  labor  and  artistic  crea- 
tion, the  wearer  of  clothes  would  only  have  to 
pay  the  salary  of  the  magician.  Even  then, 
the  magician  might  demand  a  high  royalty 
for  his  services.  There  is  absolutely  no 
escape  from  the  high  cost  of  thinking,  that  is, 
of  artistic  and  administrative  ability;  and 
there  is  no  escape  from  labor,  a  lot  of  labor 
and  expensive  labor,  in  the  manufacturing 
process.  In  every  art  and  in  every  industry 
which  turns  out  a  fine  product,  we  run  up 
against  the  same  problem  of  the  difference 
between  raw  material  and  the  finished  crea- 
tion.    A   diamond,    for   example,   when   you 

15 


come  to  think  of  it,  is  only  a  pinch  of  coal  dust, 
but  that  pinch  of  dust  has  undergone  a  very 
elaborate  manufacture  during  countless  ages 
in  nature's  laboratory,  so  that  a  fraction  of  a 
penny's  worth  of  raw  material  takes  on  a 
value  running  into  thousands  and  millions  of 
dollars. 

A  square  yard  of  canvas  plus  four  sticks  of 
wood,  plus  a  little  paint  makes  a  picture  which 
will  cost  from  twenty-five  dollars  to  two 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars,  depend- 
ing not  upon  the  cost  of  canvas,  not  upon  the 
cost  of  paint,  not  upon  the  four  sticks  of  wood, 
but  upon  the  artistic  ability  of  the  painter. 

A  violin  is  only  a  dollar's  worth  of  wood 
and  varnish  from  the  standpoint  of  raw 
materials,  and  yet  a  good  violin  costs  from  one 
hundred  to  five  thousand  dollars.  A  violin 
bow  with  perhaps  fifty  cents'  worth  of  raw 
materials  was  valued  at  five  hundred  dollars 
the  other  day.  Not  wood  or  horsehair,  but  Art ! 

The  steel  in  a  sledge  hammer,  or  the  rubber 
in  a  rubber  valve,  or  the  lead  in  a  lead  pipe, 
or  the  brass  in  an  ordinary  rough  casting, 
represents  a  large  part  of  the  selling  price  of 
the  manufactured  article.  But  the  steel  in  a 
razor  or  in  a  watch  spring,  or  the  rubber  in  a 
fountain  pen,  or  the  brass  in  an  optical 
instrument  or  the  glass  in  a  telescope  lens  or  a 
pair  of  spectacles,  is  only  an  inconsiderable 
item  in  the  value  and  price  of  the  finished 
article.     One  hundred  fifty  thousand  watch 

16 


screws  can  be  made  out  of  a  pound  of  steel. 
For  use  in  the  Waltham  73^  Ligne  Ladies' 
watch,  eighty  four  thousand  hair  springs  are 
made  from  a  pound  of  steel.  The  Waltham 
Company  states  that  this  raises  the  value  of 
that  pound  of  steel  from  five  dollars  to  thirty 
thousand  dollars.  Thirty  thousand  dollars 
for  five  dollars'  worth  of  steel !  Sixty  dollars 
for  five  dollars'  worth  of  wool ! 

The  point  is  clear  that  it  is  not  the  raw 
material,  but  what  you  do  with  the  raw 
material  which  not  only  makes  the  raw 
material  serviceable,  but  increases  its  value. 
This  is  not  the  fable  of  the  Golden  Fleece, 
but  the  Romance  of  Modern  Manufacturing. 
It  is  not  magic,  but  genius  and  hard  work. 

Fact  Number  Five 
Dislocations  and  Sprains 

Fine  cloth  is  not  a  matter  of  politics.  A 
comparison  of  Charts  IV  and  V  will  show  a 
close  relationship  between  the  rising  curve  of 
four  staple  cloths  and  three  staple  grades  of 
raw  wool.  It  is  true  there  were  some  fluctua- 
tions in  the  price  of  piece  goods  under  our 
varying  tariff  policy  from  1891  onward.  But 
the  real  skyward  tendency  of  the  price  of 
cloth  did  not  manifest  itself  fully  until  after 
America  went  into  the  war.  The  history  of 
the  dramatic  shift  in  prices  it  is  not  necessary 
to  rehearse  here.  It  is  sufilicient  to  say  that  the 

17 


CHART  IV 


FLUCTUATtON  IN  PRICE5  OF  STANDARD 
UINE5  OF  PIECt  G00D5  SINCE  1891 

♦            * 

S  TARIFF  CHANCES    t            « 

«920 

18^0         89 

S           1900         I90«r          1910 

1915                JANFEB 

6  25 

J 

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11      L 

i      ' 

6.00 U- 

LEGEND                 1 

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5.00 

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J  WltSONSlli    '9J4                r 

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18 


CHART  V 


FLUCTUATIONS  IN  WOOL  PRICEi" 
-       JINCE    1907 

)7      I50J    IJII     IJI3     IJIS     1917      /9l> 

1920      1  1 

•5 

2.S0 

2.40 

Z30 

Z20 

2  10 

2.00 

190 

l.«0 

1.70 

160 

ISO 

140 

liO 

120 

I  10 

100 

50 

80 

TO 

.60 

JO 

40 

30 

20 

10 

JAN 

«» 

MAR 

APR 

- 

I.ECEND 

FINE  &TAPIC  scounro 

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PINKCIOTHINC  ICOURfO 

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19 


cost  of  cloth  was  dislocated  like  the  costs  of 
other  commodities,  because  the  world's  atten- 
tion was  focused  for  five  years  upon  the  manu- 
facture of  destructive  munitions  and  army 
equipment.  Raw  materials  were  thrown 
into  the  hopper  wholesale  to  feed  and  clothe 
and  shoe  an  army  for  battle.  An  artificial 
vacuum  was  created.  The  law  of  supply  and 
demand  began  to  operate  on  a  dramatic  scale. 
Raw  materials,  finished  materials  and  wages 
soared  incontinently.  And  we  are  still  feel- 
ing the  effect  of  that  tremendous  dislocation. 
But  in  addition  to  the  depletion  of  normal 
manufacture  caused  by  the  rush  to  supply 
the  warring  Governments,  and  beyond  the 
expensive  shifts  and  changes  and  expansions 
of  productive  machinery  which  the  war 
demanded,  it  is  safe  to  say,  with  the  United 
States  Commissioner  of  Labor  Statistics,  that 
by  far  the  most  important  cause  of  increased 
prices  is  the  enormous  additions  to  the  circu- 
lating medium,  money  and  its  substitutes, 
during  the  past  four  years.  This  is  not  the 
whole  explanation  of  the  increased  cost  of 
clothing,  but  it  is  one  very  significant  side- 
light thrown  upon  it. 

Fact  Number  Six 
The  Game  of  "Follow  the  Leader" 

Wool  is  not  the  only  thing  that  enters  into 
the  manufacture  of  fine  clothing.  A  dozen 
other  important  materials  are  used,  and  every 

20 


CHART  VI. 

DIAGRAM  SHOWING  INCREASED  COSTS 

OF  COTTON  LININGS,  CANVAS 
ALPACAS,  ETC.  FROM  1914  TO  1920 

$1.15 

1.10 

1.05 

.1.00 

.95 

.90 

.85- 

.80 

.75 

.70 
fti;- 

1               1              1 

1 

Canvas 

MMM  Sleeve  Sateens 
Alpacas 

Inside  Vest  Lin. 

Silesia 

1 

1 
1 

1 

!/ 

/ 

/ 

/  . 

'-y 

/ 

.60 

/ 

/ 
/ 

/ 

.39 

.50 
.45 
.40 
.35 
.30 
.25 
.20 
.15 
.10 
.05 
0 

f/ 

/ 

/ 

^y^  I 

/               ^ 

y 

/ 

/ 

/ 

> 

/ 

/ 

// 

k^ 

/ 
/ 

/ 

// 

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■  .-^ 

7  . 

/ 

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^ 

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/<^ 

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. —  — 

y 

.  .  .^\ 

-^— - 

;;Z---^ 

'^      " 

1914        1915        1916        1917        1918         1919        1920 

21 


CHART  VII. 

DIAGRAM  SHOWING  INCREASED  COSTS 

OF  SILK  LININGS,  BUTTONS  AND  SPOOL  SILK 

FROM  1914  TO  1920 

tin  nn 

$17.00  - 
$16.00  - 
$15.00  - 

$14.00  - 
<!i?  nn  - 

/ 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

y 

J 

$12.00  - 
$11.00- 
$10.00  - 
$9.00  - 
$8.00  - 
$7.00  - 
$6.00  - 
$5  00 

/ 

/ 
/ 

/ 

y 

/ 

/ 

^ 

^Spool  S 

Ik 

/ 

S/inn 

Silk 

Sleeve  L 

inina/ 

$3.00  - 
$2  00' 

y 

^^ 

'^Bo6y  L 

jnlng    / 

$1.00  - 

.50- 
9 

!H^^^---' 

"^ttoi 

sJiQ. -- 

y 

Butt( 

)ns  #24-  _ 

1914        1915        1916         1917        1918        1919        1920 

CHART   Vm. 


DIAGRAM  SHOWING  PERCENTAGE  INCREASES 

IN  COSTS  OF  LININGS,  TRIMMINGS,  BUHONS  AND 

SPOOL  SILK   FROM   1914  TO  1920 


600% 


300% 


1914     1915      1916     1917     1918      1919     1920 


23 


one  of  these  Items  has  played  * 'Follow  the 
Leader*'  in  jumping  upward  since  1914. 

Chart  VI  shows  the  increased  money  cost 
of  such  items  as  sleeve  sateens,  trousers  pock- 
eting, silesia,  inside  vest  linings,  alpacas  and 
canvas;  and  Chart  VII  shows  the  increases  in 
the  cost  of  buttons,  silk;  linings  and  spool  silk. 
There  is  absolutely  no  exception  to  the  general 
rising  trend  of  these  different  articles,  and  for 
some  of  them  the  rise  is  startling.  An  even 
better  idea  of  the  uniform  upward  tendency 
and  the  tremendous  altitudes  which  these 
various  materials  have  reached  is  given  by 
Chart  VIII  in  which  the  money  costs  have 
been  reduced  to  percentages.  This  chart 
looks  like  a  bundle  of  sky  rockets.  It  is  per- 
fectly clear  that  not  a  single  one  of  the  sky 
rockets  failed  to  explode  and  go  up.  Even 
buttons  have  risen  enormously  within  the 
last  year;  but  cotton  linings,  silk  and  canvas 
appear  as  the  most  lively  rockets. 

People  complain  about  clothing  having 
doubled  in  price.  This  seems  like  a  very 
mild  performance  when  compared  with  the 
200%  increase  in  the  cost  of  alpacas,  300% 
for  spool  silk  and  silesia,  400%  for  silk  sleeve 
lining,  500%  for  inside  vest  lining  and  nearly 
600%  for  canvas. 

We  are  now  in  a  little  better  position  to 
answer  the  question  of  who  got  the  Fifty  Five 
Dollars.  At  least,  we  know  where  some  of  it 
went. 

24 


Fact  Number  Seven 
The  Garment- Workers  and  Their  Wages 

Labor  as  one  of  the  most  important  ele- 
ments in  production  has  increased  enormously 
in  cost  since  the  beginning  of  the  war.  There 
is  a  chronic  shortage  of  labor  in  the  clothing 
industry.  This  is  due  in  part  to  the  fact  that 
European  immigration  has  been  suspended 
for  several  years.  It  was  almost  wholly  cut 
off  by  the  war;  but  even  without  the  war  the 
literacy  test  in  our  immigration  law  cut  down 
the  immigration  from  those  sources  upon 
which  the  garment  trades  had  ordinarily 
relied  for  keeping  up  their  stock  of  labor. 
And  the  tide  flows  outward  instead  of  inward. 
Thousands  of  textile  and  garment  workers 
already  in  this  country  have  gone  back  to 
their  European  homes.  Other  thousands 
went  during  the  war  into  other  industries 
which  paid  better  wages.  The  industry  has 
had  to  break  in  thousands  of  beginners  to 
take  their  places.  Breaking  in  is  always  an 
expensive  process.  It  costs  from  fifty  to 
three  hundred  dollars  to  train  a  new  operator 
in  a  tailor  shop.  This  item  in  labor  costs  is 
usually  overlooked  in  public  discussions,  but 
must  not  be  overlooked  in  any  fair  study  of 
present  day  manufacturing  expense. 

There  is  another  fact  to  consider.  The  con- 
sumer of  clothing  has  profiteered  for  a  genera- 
tion past.  There  is  no  doubt  that  he  got  his 
clothing  too  cheaply.     For  several  reasons. 

25 


Partly  because  of  the  comparatively  low 
wages  which  were  paid  to  the  garment  workers 
in  the  old  days.  Partly  because  of  the  con- 
petition  of  the  sweat  shop.  Reliable  cloth- 
ing manufacturers  have  always  fought  the 
sweat  shop,  but  at  the  same  time  competition 
and  a  large  supply  of  immigrants,  together 
with  the  attitude  of  the  consumer,  conspired 
to  keep  the  level  of  wages  down. 

But  the  sweat  shop  is  a  thing  of  the  past. 
The  clothing  manufacturers  are  paying  a  fair 
wage  for  a  fair  day's  work.  Moreover,  the 
garment  workers  are  highly  organized  into  a 
union.  The  Amalgamated  Clothing  Workers 
of  America,  which  includes  probably  90  per 
cent  of  all  the  workers  in  the  men's  garment 
industry.  The  demands  of  the  Union  have 
accelerated  the  normal  tendency  of  a  rising 
wage  level. 

These  facts  will  help  to  explain  Charts  IX 
and  X.  Chart  IX  shows  how  recent  increases 
in  the  wages  of  workers  in  the  men's  ready- 
made  clothing  industry  make  it  tower  above 
all  of  the  other  great  basic  industries  in  the 
United  States.  From  May,  1918  to  January, 
1920  the  men's  ready-made  clothing  workers 
increased  their  wages  by  about  70%.  Com- 
pare this  with  the  increase  to  iron  and  steel 
workers  which  ran  a  little  over  18%;  or  with 
automobile  manufacturing  which  ran  a  little 
over  25%;  or  with  boot  and  shoe  workers, 
who  received  somewhat  over  40%  increase. 

26 


CHART  IX 


COMPARATIVE  INCREASES  IN  WEEKLY  EARNINGS 

IN  THIRTEEN  BASIC  AMERICAN  INDUSTRIES. 

PERCENTAGE  INCREASES  MAYJ918 -JANUARY.  1920 

(Official  figures  from  U.  S.  Department  of  Labor  Statistics) 


Cotton 
Finishing 

Cotton  Mfg. 


Iron  and  Steel 

Automobile 
Mfg. 

Car  BIdg.  and 
Repairing 

Leather  Mfg. 

Paper  Mfg. 

Boots  and 
Shoes 

Hosiery  and 
Underwear 


27 


It  IS  significant  that  the  whole  group  of 
textile  workers,  including  the  clothing  workers, 
silk  workers,  woolen  mill  workers,  cotton 
manufacturing  and  cotton  finishing  workers, 
outstripped  all  their  brothers,  with  the  sole 
exception  of  the  cigar  makers,  in  the  race  for 
prosperity.  Here  is  some  of  the  explosive 
powder  which  sent  up  the  rockets  pictured  on 
a  preceding  chart. 

These  figures  may  be  stated  in  another 
way.  In  May,  1919  the  iron  and  steel 
industry  stood  at  the  top  of  the  list  of  thirteen 
representative  industries  from  the  standpoint 
of  wage  increases  for  the  previous  year.  Men's 
ready-made  clothing  stood  fifth  from  the  top 
so  far  as  gross  general  averages  of  wage  were 
concerned,  and  fourth  on  the  list  from  the 
standpoint  of  percentage  of  increased  wage. 
But  the  figures  of  May,  1919  did  not  reflect 
the  increases  which  were  made  in  the  men's 
ready-made  clothing  industry  due  to  the  1919 
agreement  and  wage  settlement  with  the 
union.  The  figures  for  October,  1919  showed 
the  eft'ect  of  this  settlement  and  registered  a 
distinct  rise  in  the  relative  position  of  the 
clothing  industry,  for  by  that  time  it  had 
jumped  to  third  place  on  the  list.  It  still 
remains  in  the  third  place  from  the  standpoint 
of  gross  average  weekly  wages ;  but  from  the 
standpoint  of  percentage  increases,  figured  say 
from  January  IQIQ  to  January,  ig20,  it  tops 
the  list. 

28 


CHART  X 


INCREASE  IN  WEEKLY  WAGES  OF  EMPLOYEES  IN 

MANUFACTURING  DEPARTMENT 
B.  KUPPENHEIMER  &  CO.,  FROM  1913  TO  1920 


1913 


1914 


1915 


1916 


1917 


1918 


1919 


1920 


=  $11.11= 


E$12.63E 


E$11.36E 


$11.36  (estimo; 


(Note:  These  figures 

are  averages  of  all 

employees^not  of  a 

selected  few) 


E$14.81E 


E$17.61E 


E$23.49E 


E$35.76E 


29 


An  even  clearer  picture  of  the  huge  increases 
in  the  wages  of  the  clothing  workers  may  be 
obtained  from  a  study  of  B.  Kuppenheimer  & 
Company's  pay  roll.  Chart  X  reveals  that 
from  1913  to  1920  the  average  weekly  wage 
of  all  employees  in  the  manufacturing  depart- 
ment trebled,  rising  from  eleven  dollars  thirty- 
six  cents  per  week  in  1913  to  thirty-five  dollars 
seventy-six  cents  per  week  in  March,  1920.  It 
must  be  emphasized  that  these  figures  are  the 
average  of  all  employees,  including  the  various 
apprentices  and  beginners,  and  is  not  the  aver- 
age of  a  selected  few  high  class  workers.  Some 
of  these  workers  are  earning  abnormally  high 
wages  because  of  their  scarcity  value. 

There  is  a  great  dearth  of  certain  types  of 
skilled  operators,  and  the  pressure  for  pro- 
duction and  deliveries  has  been  so  great  that 
manufacturers  have  not  had  the  time  prop- 
erly to  educate  new  additions  to  the  ranks  of 
their  skilled  operators.  The  clothing  manu- 
facturers are  not  throwing  away  money  with 
a  reckless  hand,  but  are  simply  caught  by  the 
law  of  supply  and  demand  and  have  increased 
their  wage  scale  partly  to  maintain  a  decent 
standard  of  living,  partly  to  preserve  a  just 
balance  between  money  wages  and  real  wages, 
and  partly  also  to  retain  an  efficient  labor 
force  which  has  been  vigorously  competed 
for  by  other  industries. 

There  is  still  another  way  of  looking  at 
this  matter  of  wages.     Chart  XI   indicates 

30 


CHART  XI 


COMPARATIVE  CHART 
SHOWING  HOW  INDEX  FIGURE  OF  KUPPENHEIMER 

SHOP  PAYROLL  HAS  SOARED  ABOVE  INDEX 

FIGURE  OF  BOTH  RETAIL  AND  WHOLESALE  PRICES 

OF  STAPLE  COMMODITIES  1913-1920 

340 


300 


260 


220 


180 


140 


100 


1 

Kuppenheimer 
Wages 

Wholesale 
Prices 

Retail 
Prices 

\ 

/ 

/i 

1 

1 

/ 

/ 

/ 

/ 

ft 

^ 

f 

/ 

1913   1914  1915   1916  1917  1918   1919  Jan  1920 


31 


clearly  how  the  Kuppenheimer  pay  roll  has 
soared  above  the  price  level  of  both  wholesale 
and  retail  prices.  Taking  1913  as  the  basis,  the 
wholesale  price  level  of  a  large  group  of  com- 
modities reported  on  regularly  by  the  United 
States  Department  of  Labor,  and  including 
farm  products,  food,  clothing,  fuel,  metal 
products,  lumber  and  building  materials,  and 
household  furnishings,  rose  to  214.5  by  Dec- 
ember, 1919.  During  the  same  time,  the 
retail  level  of  twenty-two  fundamental  articles 
of  food  in  the  United  States  rose  to  197  in 
December,  1919.  For  the  same  period, 
the  Kuppenheimer  pay  roll  rose  to  206.8  for 
the  average  of  1919,  and  stood  at  315  in 
March,  1920.  Such  figures  spell  decent 
working  conditions,  justice  and  prosperity  for 
the  garment  workers,  and  they  might  well  be 
a  subject  for  honest  pride  in  the  industry. 

These  increasing  wages,  while  they  do  not 
tell  the  whole  tale  of  the  increased  cost  of 
clothing,  are  amongst  the  most  important 
elements  in  that  increase.  For  we  have  to 
figure  not  only  upon  the  increased  wages  of 
the  workers  in  the  cutting  rooms  and  tailor 
shops  of  the  manufacturer,  but  we  also  have 
to  remember  the  increased  labor  cost  in  the 
prices  of  woolen  cloth,  cottons,  silks  and  all 
the  other  materials  which  go  into  a  suit  of 
clothes. 

There  is  a  still  further  item  of  labor  cost 
which  must  not  be  overlooked.     Within  the 

32 


last  year,  more  overtime  has  been  required 
than  ever  before  in  the  history  of  the  garment 
industry.  This  was  necessitated  by  the  tre- 
mendous demand  for  clothing  to  refill  depleted 
stocks,  and  by  the  extreme  shortage  of  labor. 
It  is  to  be  recalled,  also,  that  in  the  Spring  of 
1919  the  working  week  was  cut  from  forty- 
eight  to  forty-four  hours,  which  meant  that 
all  time  over  forty-four  hours  per  week  must 
be  paid  for  at  time  and  a  half.  This  excessive 
amount  of  overtime  has,  therefore,  appreci- 
ably raised  the  cost  of  production.  It  has 
probably  meant  also  in  the  long  run  a  some- 
what declining  productive  ability  on  the  part 
of  the  average  worker  during  his  regular 
straight  working  time.  A  long  period  of 
overtime  tends  to  strain  the  energies  and 
health  of  the  workers,  and  this  strain  reg- 
isters itself  in  lower  output.  This  in  turn 
must  express  itself  in  higher  unit  manufactur- 
ing costs,  for  whatever  impairs  unit  output 
raises  unit  cost. 

Fact  Number  Eight 

In  spite  of  all  these  factors,  the  cost  of 
clothing  has  not  risen  out  of  serious  propor- 
tion to  many  other  commodities.  This  fact  comes 
out  very  clearly  on  Chart  XII.  Clothing  at 
the  end  of  the  period  from  1913  to  1919  stood 
only  a  little  above  the  level  of  wholesale  prices 
of  farm  products.  During  that  period  from 
1913  to  1919,  the  index  of  wholesale  prices  of 

33 


CHART  XII 


COMPARISON  OF  INDEX  NUMBERS  OF 

WHOLESALE  PRICES  OF  (1)  ALL  COMMODITIES 

(2)  FARM  PRODUCTS,  (3)  CLOTHING,  1913  TO  1919 

(Official  figures  from  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics) 
260 


220 


180 


140 


100 


CLOTH    AND 
CLOTHING 

FARM 
PRODUCTS 

ALL 
COMMODITIES 

/ 

/ 

/ 

i; 

/ 

/ 

/ 

/ 

j 

: ^ 

1913    1914    1915    1916    1917     1918    1919 


34 


all  commodities  reported  by  the  United 
States  Department  of  Labor  rose  from  100  to 
212.  During  the  same  period,  the  index  of 
the  wholesale  price  of  cloths  and  clothing 
rose  to  261,  while  the  wholesale  price  of  farm 
products  rose  to  234.  Note  that  this  index 
figure  includes  cloth  as  well  as  clothing,  and 
recall  the  fact  that  fabrics  have  risen  out  of 
all  proportion  to  finished  clothing.  It  is 
very  significant  that  among  the  farm  products 
showing  an  increase  are  sheep,  mutton,  salt 
pork,  butter,  eggs,  milk,  wheat,  corn,  oats, 
rye,  barley,  rice  and  potatoes.  Such  facts 
would  indicate  that  the  increasing  costs  of  all 
these  commodities  are  the  result  of  national 
market  conditions,  and  even  international 
conditions,  quite  beyond  the  reach  of  the 
individual  manufacturer  or  retailer  or  con- 
sumer. They  show  that,  on  the  whole,  the 
price  of  clothing  is  not  out  of  line  with  other 
fundamental  elements  in  a  normal  standard 
of  living. 

Fact  Number  Nine 

The  cost  of  clothing  is  not  to  be  charged  to 
politics  or  profiteering.  The  last  report  of 
the  United  States  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics 
includes  an  article  on  the  Improbability  of 
Decrease  in  Prices  and  Cost  of  Living,  pre- 
pared by  the  Commissioner  himself.  In  the 
course  of  this  brief  article,  the  Commissioner 
analyzes  the  causes  of  the  high  cost  of  living 
and  points  out  that,  if  prices  are  to  be  lowered, 

35 


the  causes  operating  to  boost  prices  must  be 
attacked ;  that  the  amount  of  money  and 
checks  in  circulation  must  be  reduced  and  the 
quantities  of  really  necessary  goods  increased. 
*'The  financing  of  the  war,"  he  says,  ''has  made 
two  dollars  grow  where  but  one  dollar  grew  be- 
fore." (Or,  as  a  great  banker,  Mr.  Frank  Van- 
derlip,  put  it  the  other  day,  ''We  are  trying  to 
do  business  with  a  forty  eight  cent  dollar.") 
This  fact,  when  added  to  the  further  fact 
that  there  has  been  an  enormous  destruction 
of  economic  goods  and  of  the  farms,  mines, 
forests,  and  factories  supplying  these  goods, 
explains  the  enormous  and  world-wide  decrease 
in  the  purchasing  power  (value)  of  money, 
which  causes  increased  prices.  "As  long  as 
the  people  have  twice  as  many  dollars  with 
which  to  buy  a  smaller  number  of  commodi- 
ties, prices  are  bound  to  remain  high.  It  will 
take  a  long  time  to  deflate  the  world's  inflated 
currencies  or  to  inflate  the  world's  deflated 
supply  of  goods.  The  profiteer  is  being 
blamed  on  all  hands  for  the  increase  in  prices. 
Undoubtedly,  profiteering  of  a  most 'repre- 
hensible sort  has  existed  and  does  exist  today, 
but  the  profiteer  is  a  result  of  ever-increasing 
prices  rather  than  a  cause  thereof.  His 
influence  in  boosting  prices  is  negligible.  If 
all  the  profiteers  in  the  world  could  be  appre- 
hended and  thrown  into  jail  or  lined  up  and 
shot,  it  would  have  no  appreciable  influence  upon 

prices .^^    (U.  S.  Monthly  Labor  Review.  Feb.  1920,  p.  95 
36 


Conclusions 

These,  then,  are  the  facts.  These  are  the 
reasons  why  there  is  nothing  to  be  alarmed 
about  in  the  fact  that  a  sixty  dollar  suit  of 
clothes  contains  only  five  dollars*  worth  of 
wool,  or  that  clothes  cost  twice  as  much  as 
they  formerly  did.  This  might  be  true  even 
under  the  normal  conditions  of  production 
which  prevailed  before  the  war,  but  since 
1916  the  world's  productive  machinery  has 
become  dislocated  or  at  least  severely  sprained. 
There  is  inflation  of  currency;  there  is  labor 
unrest;  there  have  been  long  and  costly 
strikes  in  the  textile  industries;  there  is  dis- 
turbed psychology;  and  there  is  an  undercur- 
rent of  worry  lest  the  world  go  bankrupt  and 
civilization  collapse.  All  these  pathological 
conditions  not  only  complicate  the  process  of 
manufacture,  but  also  increase  its  cost.  They 
act  like  brakes  upon  the  productive  machin- 
ery or  like  friction  in  some  of  its  bearings. 
Reputable  clothing  manufacturers  like  The 
House  of  Kuppenheimer  are  honestly  striv- 
ing to  oil  the  machinery  and  keep  it  working 
steadily  and  economically.  So  long  as  we  do 
this,  we  believe  we  are  acquitting  ourselves 
of  our  part  of  the  grave  responsibility  of 
furnishing  to  the  American  people  one  of  the 
great  fundamental  necessities  of  civilized  life. 


37 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DAT] 
STAMPED  BELOW 


AN  INITIAL  FINE  OF  25  CENTS 

WILL  BE  ASSESSED  FOR  FAILURE  TO  RETURI 
THIS  BOOK  ON  THE  DATE  DUE.  THE  PENALT 
WILL  INCREASE  TO  SO  CENTS  ON  THE  FOURTI 
DAY  AND  TO  $1.00  ON  THE  SEVENTH  DA' 
OVERDUE. 


Kov  :^  ^9^^ 

NOV   16  1946 

APR    27  1948 

'VJ Hovb }  lit 

|4^Jnv'51l" 

4Hov'55BC| 

OCT  21 1955  UV 

JCT17  ic 

q^ 

"■■■'  "-  '  •     ■    -■■  ■■'•    IZ 

^Jv* 

'■-^  ^0  m6 

aWDimOH  DEpr 

LD  21-95m 

U.  C.  BERKELEY  LIBRARIES 


CDMSMS^S^? 


.101 


